1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an adjustable wrist support for supporting the wrists of typists and VDT operators.
2. Background
There are at least 10 million video display terminals (hereinafter referred to as VDTs) in use across the country, and it is predicted that there will be greater than 40 million VDTs by the end of this century. While VDTs are used for a variety of tasks. they are used most intensively by a range of office workers who may spend the entire day key punching and processing information. It is estimated that typists and VDT operators make many thousand key strokes per hour. Each stroke requires the contraction of a muscle and movement of a tendon in the forearm. With high movement rates, there exists a possibility of damage to the muscles and tendons as a result of the sliding action. The potential for muscle and tendon damage becomes greater when the arms and hands are used in awkward positions. Accordingly, to prevent this damage, it is necessary to ensure that the typists' or VDT operators' hands be maintained in the proper position for typing. Thus, it is necessary to provide an adjustable wrist support so as to permit a typist's or VDT operator's wrist to be supported in the proper position.
U.S. Pat. No 4.688.862 discloses an adjustable arm and/or hand rest member which is adjustable in the upward and downward direction as well as the inward and outward direction. In particular, the adjustable member is slidably disposed in an arcuate slot so as to permit the bi-directional movement. However, the problem associated with the adjustable member disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,862 is that the vertical adjustment of the adjustable member is dependent upon the horizontal adjustment of the adjustable member. Thus, the adjustable member does not permit the necessary adjustable freedom to accommodate typists and VDT users of different size and having different typing styles.